Show Me
by Forever2Never
Summary: when lightning, in it's terrible inconvenience, has surprisingly electric repercussions. *originally What You Mean to Me. Revised&Revamped*


**What You Mean to Me - Revised and Revamped**

**I basically took the bullshit I wrote before and made it better. It's more abstract I think. But better. And like….slow. And ****believable. **

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Breathing.

At the moment it's the only thing her frantic mind can comprehend. His chest rises and falls beneath her and it is the rain reviving a barren, thirsty desert. There are no words to describe her emotions because they simply do not exist. Her fingers quiver even as they feel for a steady beat, his brilliant, half-lidded golden gaze locked on her own.

He's alive, and the only thing she knows is that he needs to stay that way.

Across the courtyard screams of agonized insanity begin, pause for breath and begin again. A defeated princess lies chained to a grate – a _grate – _and she is infuriated. After all of her effort, all of her sacrifice and her devotion, all of her sweat and the tears she hid from _everyone_ she is nothing but a prisoner, chained without trial. This is the end for Azula. She knows it. She makes the entire courtyard echo with her screams but they fall upon deaf ears. No one is listening anymore, especially not Katara.

_Especially _not Katara.

Thunder cracks and the sky opens up like it's been holding in the rain for months. Katara has already been healing him for a while – minutes or maybe hours; she can't _think_ – but the downpour saps all of her strength. If she hasn't pulled him back from the brink of death already, there's no saving him now. The arms that have been supporting her weight collapse and she falls, face first into his chest. It's warm even though he's paler then usual and when her healing water splashes to the ground, she doesn't give a damn. Even though she has felt the rise and fall of his breath, with her ear pressed against him she listens for the beat of a heart that will last. _Please, please let it last._

It's quiet. So _so _ quiet.

But it's there.

She gasps out air she hasn't known she's been holding, and suddenly her vision is swimming. A swelling feeling of sheer relief - of reassurance - wells up and creates a knot in her throat. Everything is fine. She's alive and he's alive and everything is _fine. _The very oxygen he breathes means the world to her at that instant.

"_Oh my god,"_ she sobs because the relief is too good, and still too much. He could've been gone, _really_ gone. The idea hurts her more than she's ever thought possible. "Oh my god."

A small gasp from between his lips has her fumbling to push herself off of his injured body. She'd managed to avoid the main wound, but there's a possibility of smaller ones she has no idea about. She stammers out "I'm so sorry. Oh god, I'm so, so sorry," and makes to move away from him but his arm comes out of nowhere. It snakes over her back and shoves her back down on top of him and Katara has to turn her head to avoid pressing her lips accidentally into his collarbone. She's too surprised to move but then he asks her to "Stay…just for a minute," and she has no reason to. He smells like smoke and sweat and spice and _pain_ and she can't fight it anymore. His bare skin presses against her cheek.

"You're an idiot," she mumbles, even as she begins to shiver from shock. "You almost died. You almost _died for me." _

He tries to reply, rasping out her name tiredly, but now that her mouth has begun moving she can't stop it.

"You should never do something so foolish. _Never. _Lightning can kill you, Zuko. I honestly thought you were aware of this; I thought you were smarter. I would've died a good death fighting for what I believed in but you, _you can't die. _You have a country to rule and people to guide, and- _" _She frowns at how close he had been to death; how she would've beaten herself up for it, how self-less he had become. In the milliseconds of which he had jumped, been struck and writhed in agony, he had become someone she's positively terrified of losing. Perhaps it's not the most settling thought but it's very true that she _cares about him. _It's also more than likely he has no idea how much.

"God Zuko. You can't keep sacrificing yourself like this. You can't die, okay? Don't you know how much you mean to me?" she finishes.

He doesn't respond, doesn't make a sound; just continues to breathe in and out raspily. Seconds pass and she can't see his face. It's impossible to tell how he'd taken her words and her cheeks begin to burn. Maybe she'd said too much. He'd saved her life and she'd not only scolded him but started to pour out her weird feelings? Now who was being foolish?

Thoroughly frustrated, Katara gives up on whatever it is that they're doing lying flush against each other and begins to push herself up again. She curses the blood in her cheeks but when her shame-filled eyes fall on his face, they soften. His own amber ones are staring up at her with something like confusion, and sadness and maybe the tiniest spark of hope. It's like he doesn't know…he really doesn't know but he's praying that she's not messing with his head. It occurs to her that maybe no one has ever cared; no one has ever spoken aloud just how much he meant to them, aside for his own uncle.

"Actually," he says. "No. I don't. I find it is much…easier… not to assume."

It breaks the compassionate, mothering part of Katara into pieces at the vulnerability in his voice. She knows though, that he won't want her pity. That this weak moment of his is a rarity and he is showing her this hidden side of loneliness and taking a chance.

"Well," she says, and she fights to keep the gentleness out of her voice and the firmness in it. " Now you know."

And then she does something really outlandish and possibly stupid and takes his two cheeks between her palms and kisses his forehead. His eyes widen, utterly stunned and even though she's shocked herself, she doesn't say anything. She pulls back and they stare at each other, another blush beginning to color her cheeks. He is the one to break the tension first and he looks away, before attempting to sit up. She rushes to help him, slipping his arm around her neck and pulling them both onto their feet. He's much heavier than Aang but she doesn't mind.

"Azula," Zuko says and then clears his throat. "We have to find someone to take her away. Alert the palace workers that she's been defeated."

Katara nods sensibly and mutters, "Right," but Zuko doesn't move when she takes a step.

"Katara?" She looks up at him but something is different now. It's not so easy to meet his eyes. Her stomach clenches unusually, and she almost has to glance away. "It was worth it. I would do it again….and thank you."

Thank you? "No," she says and she bites down on her lip, suppressing the foreign urge to place them somewhere else. Instead she grips the back of his tunic tighter, and smiles gratefully. "Thank _you." _

She supports his weight the entire way back to the palace, out of the scorched courtyard and past his sister who is practically foaming at the mouth. It is the least she can do.

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**okay so yeah. Revamped. Different. I'm sorry but I couldn't keep up the original chapters. They were pretty much garbage lolzzz. Read and Review!lemme know how you guys feel about this.**


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